The story of John Horse and the Black Seminoles has been largely untold, but according to Professor Amy Sturgis of Signum University, it deserves to be remembered. Not only did they create the largest haven in the U.S. South for runaway slaves and lead the largest slave revolt in U.S. history, but they also secured the only emancipation of rebellious slaves prior to the U.S. Civil War. In this video, Professor Sturgis tells the incredible story of the Black Seminoles.

In 1838, poet, essayist, and lecturer Ralph Waldo Emerson wrote a letter to President Martin Van Buren protesting the forced removal of the Cherokee Nation from its land in Georgia to modern-day Oklahoma. In this extended excerpt from his letter, read by Professor Amy Sturgis from Lenoir-Rhyne University, Emerson demonstrates that people at the time were aware that the Trail of Tears was a grave injustice. Emerson's was only one of many voices protesting the government's treatment of the Cherokee people, but these protests fell on deaf ears. The Trail of Tears remains a blemish on U.S. History.

According to Professor Amy Sturgis of Lenoir-Rhyne University, the Trail of Tears shouldn’t have happened. In this video, Professor Sturgis explains both the moral and legal arguments used to protest the forced removal of the Cherokee Nation to "Indian Territory" as well as why it’s so important that we remember the Trail of Tears today.